February rides

[emily_in_nc]

I'll be going on my third February ride today, the 3rd! So nice to be in Florida this time of year. I don't ride on the weekends here as the lovely bike paths are choked with newbies, kids, dog walkers, etc. So, I'll have in around 100+ miles on the week in three rides.

[Crankin]

I am hoping to ride Sunday, when it will start out freezing, but be around 40 for a couple of hours, later in the day. It's going to be cold and windy tomorrow, so since I have been hiking a lot, I am going to do a tabata class; only 45 minutes, so I can have a normal day.
I rode twice in January, which is fine by me. I need the mental break, so I can be fired up in March. Our big trip is the end of June, so the key for me this year is to not flame out after coming back from Spain and then our short trip to the Berkshires. Thinking I need to plan to lead a couple of rides in August and September to keep me motivated.

[ny biker]

We're expecting the same weather here this weekend, Crankin. But I'm not sure yet what my plans are, and I also want to take a break now in order to be in a good frame of mind later. I might go for a walk/easy hike with a friend on Sunday. I'd kind of like to go see a movie, too, at some point, and also need to finish painting the giant dresser that is currently taking up space in my living room.

[north woods gal]

Trying to heal up from my fall, early in the week, but darned bruised ribs on my right side are killing me. Rode, indoors on the trainer, yesterday, but couldn't stand sitting in the house, today, so rode out on the lake ice with the dogs. Not good. Any riding seems to be aggravating things, probably from leaning forward on the handlebars. May just have to go for a week with no cycling. Bummer.

Did buy a set of studded fat bike tires, yesterday, though. Not sure which bike to put them on, yet. No way am I giving up.

[Crankin]

Buying cycling gear is a good substitute for riding, at this time of year.
I don't think I will get to ride Sunday, as now they predict rain/snow showers.

[azfiddle]

Good weather here in southern AZ- five commutes this week, starting temps in the low 40's and riding home in the 60's or close to 70!
Getting ride to ride a short way up Mt. Lemmon this morning.

[north woods gal]

Good idea on the bicycling gear, Crankin. Also a good time of year to do some rebuilding or even start thinking about changing or adding bikes.

My Salsa Fargo is a good example. It's a drop bar mountain bike with 29er wheels/tires, kind of a cult bike for those of us who have them. Love the bike in every respect with one huge exception. It has SRAM Apex shifters with I HATE. The problem is the single paddle that is used for both upshifting and down shifting on SRAM. In order to down shift, I have to move the paddle twice the distance in, compared to moving it a short distance for a higher gear. With my hands, I struggle to reach in far enough when I need to downshift and if I don't reach in far enough, I actually shift to a bigger gear, not a lower gear and that completely kills things when I'm in a climb. Even when I do it right, it's still slow and awkward to downshift. MUCH, MUCH prefer Shimano 105, Ultegra and so on because downshifting and upshifting is on different levers and I have enough reach with both. Much more manageable for me.

At this point, it's either convert everything over to Shimano - and that won't be cheap - or trade it in on another bike. Decisions, decisions.